2016 Elections General and Downballot

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Down ballot politics

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At least 10 conservative Republicans in the Kansas Legislature have lost their seats in the primary election.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/poli...#storylink=cpy

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Bernie Sanders said it well this am when he said “When you think about the political revolution, I want you to think of Pramila Jayapal.”

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15-20 years ago a book titled "What's the Matter With Kansas"
Apparently it has taken 15-20 years to reach Kansas

Curious to see if this is an outlier or a trend
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But it did show that even residents of one of the nation’s most conservative states favored the idea of action in Washington rather than the paralysis that has set in.

But they do want to see a more constructive atmosphere than the current one, where the fundamental budget and appropriations processes are in such a shambles that it is questionable each year whether the government is going to be funded or not. They want lawmakers to put governance over obstruction.


http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/04/us...T.nav=top-news

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And the gerrymandering crows are starting to come home to roost.

"In the past two weeks, judges have ruled against voter-ID laws and other limits on voting in five states." More to come in the coming years?

As Donald Trump enmeshed himself in a bitter fight with the parents of an American Muslim military hero — and Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and John McCain looked to put distance between themselves and their party’s presidential nominee — there’s actually worse news for Republicans.

Several important court victories for voting rights since Friday could dramatically remake the campaign for Congress and the White House, and this time, GOP leadership may have a harder time distancing themselves from un-American tactics.
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Now, in the last two weeks, the GOP’s crafty and cynical strategy of both remapping America’s legislative districts and suppressing minority votes officially imploded. Republicans remain overwhelming favorites to retain the House for the rest of the decade. But suppressing the minority vote in 2020 — a presidential election year when more Democrats turn out, and also the next key year for redistricting — was essential to the GOP strategy of holding on to these gerrymandered gains for another decade.

Democrats still have to win, state by state, a majority of seats in districts algorithmically determined to ensure their defeat. That already uphill task, however, seems slightly less Herculean when these voter-ID bills are systematically thrown out by courts and seen for what they are: One party standing in front of the polls and trying to block minorities from exercising their most basic and essential American right to vote.
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David Daley is the former editor-in-chief of Salon and the author of "Rat****ed: The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America's Democracy"

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Ari Berman ‏@AriBerman · 7m7 minutes ago



2,300 blocked from polls by voting restrictions in NC in 2014 vs 2 cases of voter impersonation from 2002-2012

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In the world of Republican “super PACs,” strategists are going even farther: discussing advertisements that would treat Mr. Trump’s defeat as a given and urge voters to send Republicans to Congress as a check on a Hillary Clinton White House. The discussions were described by officials familiar with the deliberations, several of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity about confidential planning.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/08/07...&_r=2&referer=